The reaction against Jerry Falwell and other Christian Right leaders led to the creation of People for the American Way. The Christian Right gave liberals an enduring foil, sparking the first of two evangelical scares. The Christian Right-a movement propelled by evangelicals but also containing sympathetic Catholics, Mormons, and a handful of Jewish allies-received disproportionate media attention, not least because its leaders served up a steady dish of spectacles.
Ronald Reagan's victory linked evangelicalism with political conservatism in the popular imagination for decades to come.
By 1980, the momentum lay on the right side of the evangelical continuum.